Cutting Fluids Engineered for Bacteria Resistance

"Created to support the manufacturing of metal components, Castrol's cutting fluid technology maintains constant pH levels (9-9.5) and stable conditions for longer than other standard cutting fluids," said a company spokesperson. This helps reduce the need to add treatment additives and biocides, as well as safeguarding against uncontrolled system changes. "Castrol's Hysol and Alusol XBB products do not use boron or formaldehyde releasing agents or additional biocide and fungicide additive packs, but are still able to meet the lifetime expectations of the benchmark technology to date," said the spokesperson.

"One of the drawbacks of the traditional technology is that, over time, the fluid can suffer from bacterial growth and contamination, resulting in the fluid `going off.' This leads to pH depletion, unpleasant odors, unstable emulsion and poor performance," said the spokesperson. These Hysol and Alusol XBB products are engineered to be resistant to acid attack from bacteria, to maintain pH at a constant level and to be more resistant to bacterial growth.

Dr. Rudi Janner, Castrol Global Product Manager for Cutting Fluids, said, "By having greater control of the pH, the reliance upon short-lived biocides to control bacteria can be reduced or eliminated. This translates into improvements for controlling manufacturing costs, increasing productivity, protecting the quality of end products and meeting HSSE requirements."

"As the lifetime of the cutting fluid is increased, costs associated with disposal of spent fluid are reduced and system stability minimizes the requirement for maintenance. Even at low concentrations, Castrol Hysol and Alusol XBB products maintain machining performance and can help to protect against corrosion and staining. The lubricating properties help prevent swarf build up, helping to assure high quality surface finish and low scrappage rates," said the spokesperson.

For use with ferrous alloys, Castrol Hysol SL 35 XBB can maintain system performance and fluid life. "It neutralizes up to 24% more acidic material than standard cutting fluids and reduces overall fluid top-up volumes by up to 45%. Castrol Alusol SL 51 XBB improves precision performance in aluminum machining. It neutralizes up to 33% more acidic material than standard aluminum cutting fluids and reduces overall fluid top-up volumes by up to 30% while ensuring cutting precision. Both products re-optimize the fluid in use," said the spokesperson.

"Castrol's cutting fluid technology can improve factory environment and working conditions. By maintaining system stability, the unpleasant odors produced by an emulsion that is suffering from a large population of bacteria are minimized and the reduced need for testing pH levels reduces potential skin complaints. Furthermore, the reduced need for biocide additives minimizes the need for workers to handle dangerous chemicals," continued the spokesperson.

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Manufacturing News is a monthly metalworking manufacturing publication that informs over 100,000 monthly readers of manufacturing solutions and new technology and the application of that technology in precision machining, production machining, fabricating of metals and composite materials. We welcome news releases that fit our editorial profile. The manufacturing we write about is the machining or fabricating that results in the creation of components, i.e., the manufacturing of discrete parts.